290 



Soiling of Cattle — Magnesian Lime. 



Vol. VI. 



a little good mould as soon as the cattle were 

 turned out, and a little had been spread over 

 it every few days during the greater part of 

 the time of its accumulation; was hauled out 

 the latter end of 7th month, in the beet possi- 

 ble condition as I believed. 



The groimd mowed over for the cattle 

 averaged by estimate one acre to three steers 

 or beasts — they were fed from racks and 

 pulled an abundance under their feet, which, 

 however, as it went among the manure, I 

 regarded the less. On the whole, it convinced 

 me that " Vanthace" is right in stating that 

 a piece of grass requisite for pasturing one 

 animal, is by soiling capable of sustaining 

 four, if economy be used in feeding. Allhougii 

 my cattle did not get completely fat in their 

 stands, they appeared to me in general to be 

 more comfortable than afterwards on pasture 

 — always shaded from the hot suns and un- 

 annoyed by flies, fed at regular intervals to 

 the full, just room enough between for rumi- 

 nation and digestion; they would testify their 

 satisfaction by chewing the cud, lying on 

 their full stomachs, while the sun beamed or 

 the rains descended without, and by returning 

 mostly from the water-trough direct to their 

 stands without coercion or mvitation. I cal- 

 culated that the manure at $] per load paid 

 for the labour of attendance, and as an offset 

 against the prolongation of fattening, if indeed 

 they could have been finished earlier on pas- 

 lure alone, which the quality of the cattle and 

 their age leads me to doubt, 1 mowed and put 

 away in my barn at least 15 tons of good 

 hay more than could have been done had they 

 been all the time on pasture. 



Although convinced of the superior econo- 

 my of this mode of feeding, I have not ascer- 

 tained whether cows will milk as well, or 

 beef cattle feed as fast by it, as on pasture — 

 where cattle are to be kept rather than fatted 

 hastily, I have no doubt of its superiority. 



J. Jc^KINS. 



West Whiteiand, 3d tno. 25th, 1842. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Magnesian Lime. 



After noticing the tenor and bearing of 

 the articles published in the last Cabinet, 

 hostile to magnesian lime, I should greatly 

 prefer the course which prudence dictates, 

 and with due deference to your three several 

 correspondents, respectfully decline taking 

 any notice of a controversy from which no 

 good can come and no truth be elicited, much 

 less established. 



With all due courtesy, therefore, for your 

 nnti-magnesian correspondents, J must decline 

 taking any further notice of their articles, 

 unless they can bring or draw out some one, 

 who can combat the whole array of scientific 



testimony, already produced in the columns 

 of the Cabinet, from the most celebrated and 

 eminent chemists who have ever applied sci- 

 ence to agriculture. In the meantime, we 

 shall be prepared to furnish line upon line to 

 prove from foreign authors and journals, the 

 fertilizing character of magnesian lime in 

 Great Britain and France at the present day, 

 eschewing all the past. You will perceive, 

 that the numerous professors and eminent 

 chemists, quoted in the April No. for 1841, 

 who give the why and wherefore, are not no- 

 ticed by the anti-magnesian writers, nor do 

 they attempt to give any rational, any philo- 

 sophic explanation, or cause, for their un- 

 founded prejudice. 



Having already defined my position in this 

 controversy, I would add, I am opposed to 

 war, under any circumstances. I will not, 

 therefore, pretend myself to argue the theory 

 of a question so essentially philosophic as the 

 one in controversy, and consequently would 

 not give the rationale of a farmer who shares 

 no better opportunity than myself, the weight 

 of a straw, but yield the matter up to those 

 distinguished and eminent philosophers and 

 chemists of the past and present age, with 

 whom this subject is a settled and decided 

 matter beyond any cavil. With them, I shall 

 stand or fall, adopting their views, the more 

 particularly on account of squaring or cor- 

 responding with my own experience in prac- 

 tice. I shall have little to lose in the good 

 opinion of those who think fit to spread a 

 counter-doctrine or system of their own. 



I proceed, however, to take a hasty review 

 of the several opinions expressed by the anti- 

 magnesian writers in the last Cabinet. C. 

 Taylor, of London-Grove, asserts, his friend 

 near him put on 75 bushels lime, containing 

 only 15 per cent, of magnesia, to the acre, 

 and the consequence was, his land was injured 

 for several years. Well, what are we to infer 

 from this, other than that his friend's lime 

 was very active, and of course injudiciously 

 applied. I presume, in this case, the land 

 was thin, and in some degree destitute of 

 vegetable substance for the lime to act upon. 

 It must be remembered, in all cases where 

 magnesian lime is applied in large quantity, 

 a light dressing of stable manure serves to 

 furnish carbon, for which magnesia has not 

 so great an affinity as lime; on account of 

 magnesian lime being longer carbonating, it 

 is more durable than common lime. Had his 

 friend, on that kind of land, applied half the 

 quantity, the effect would probably have been 

 as great as his own extravagant dressing of 

 yOO bushels to the acre of Pyle's lime, which 

 he states also contains some magnesia. Hence 

 the vast superiority of magnesian over com- 

 mon lime, where it must be hauled a great 

 distance, or under any circumstances, in point 



